At the other end of the scale from the new Steve Earle album is Peter Case. Musically, he has backed away from modern times, and if it weren’t for a reference to crack and Telly Savalas (Telly Savalas?!), Let Us Now Praise Sleepy John could be a 40 or 50 year-old acoustic blues album. Fortunately, Case has the musical chops to pull it off, and his lyrics aren’t self-consciously old; they’re simply timeless (which isn’t that simple at all). His voice, though, is what makes it work. No matter his role, Case’s voice is distinctive enough to make listeners care, but it’s not a voice that is tied to a particular image. Even though he and his band the Plimsouls appeared on screen playing “A Million Miles Away” in the movie Valley Girl, the song wasn’t about him. It made an impression on anyone who saw the movie, but it remained part of the soundtrack and ambience of the film, and his voice was the tough but vulnerable one we liked to think was our “real” voice. Now his voice is more weathered, but when he sings the story/song “Million Dollars Bail,” it’s not about Case the blues man. The song is about the people in it, the class injustice, and he’s just the guy who sings the song. Once you know the story, though, he’s also the reason you listen again.